Details emerge about planned restaurant and butcher shop in Remington

Larry Perl, lperl@tribune.com

No, you will not be able to get an oil change at Spike Gjerde's Parts and Labor.

You will however, be able to order a variety of meats at the Remington butcher shop and restaurant being planned by Gjerde, the restaurateur who also owns Woodberry Kitchen and Artifact Coffee, as well as Shoo-Fly in the Belvedere Square shopping center.

In this case, the word parts refers to animal parts, Gjerde said as he presented plans for Parts and Labor to the Greater Remington Improvement Association on Monday, Jan. 20.

Gjerde, appearing with his restaurant group's general manager, Corey Polyoka in a conference room at the Miller's Court apartment complex, promised an audience of about two dozen people an old-fashioned butcher shop with tile floors and walls, "along with a really cool small restaurant ... in one of the coolest neighborhoods there ever was."

Gjerde said he hopes to open Parts and Labor in the next two months in the former Mr. James Tire Shop at 26th and Howard streets, across the street from Miller's Court. The building has been redeveloped by its new owner, Seawall Development Corp., and Parts and Labor will be the third tenant to move in, behind Single Carrot Theatre and the nonprofit Young Audiences Arts for Learning, both of which have already moved in.

"We are slightly more than a month away from wrapping up construction," said Gjerde, who still needs city approval for a liquor license. He and Polyoka said they would try to buy local and regional beers and wines, and will offer 24 "taps."

He also said he plans to apply for a Class B liquor license in February, to serve beer, wine and liquor.

Woodberry Kitchen, which Gjerde co-owns with his wife, Amy, is known for using local and regional farmers and growers who practice sustainability for its meats and produce whenever possible, and hopes to "increase out ability to do that," with the new butcher shop, Gjerde said. He said his continuing mission is "feeding people in a way that respects the planet."

He said he plans to do his own curing and smoking of meats, and will cook in the restaurant in a large open hearth, using cast-iron skillets and pans, rather than having a traditional commercial kitchen. The restaurant will specialize in "lots of shareable plates," as well as lunch sandwiches.

"We wanted to do something really basic," Gjerde said. He said he opened Woodberry Kitchen in 2007 with "once central idea," local food and produce, a concept that "has taken on a life of its own," he said.

"We really see Parts and Labor as a complement to that kind of experience," he said.

The butcher shop will offer three cases, one for fresh beef and pork, one for poultry and one for cured products, he said.

Seawall partners Thibault Manekin and Evan Morville redeveloped the old tire shop as a space for the performing arts and a nonprofit, with a restaurant.

"We're really excited to have Single Carrot Theatre sharing a wall with us," Gjerde said, and Single Carrot Managing Director Elliott Rauh, sitting in the audience, said he is excited to have the restaurant there, so that theater goers can eat after a show. Single Carroty is holding a grand opening Jan. 24 and a community open house with Young Audiences on Feb. 1.

"It seems like a perfect fit for us," Gjerde said. And Rauh said Parts and Labor fits "my dream of red meat and beer."

The restaurant's hours are still being decided, but Polyoka said, "We don't really like going past midnight."

Polyoka said the butcher shop would open first, then the restaurant with seating for up to 125 diners, including plans for a terrace on the 26th Street side. Parts and Labor will have a staff of 35-40 people and around 100 parking spaces for the restaurant and the theater, he said.

Gjerde said that at the same time he was planning Parts and Labor, a restaurateur in Washington was planning a restaurant of the same name, but since Gjerde's name for his restaurant was mentioned in the media first, the other restaurateur "graciously" ceded the name to Gjerde.